


But We Are Alive

by EnterintotheBandom



Series: Zombies [2]
Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: 2008, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Reunions, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-27 22:46:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16228850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnterintotheBandom/pseuds/EnterintotheBandom
Summary: During a show in Kentucky, Fall Out Boy and a majority of those who attended the concert were escorted into buses after the concert was shut down and everyone was taken to the parking lot. The band found themselves in a Walmart that has been made into a refugee camp, and no one knows what is going on.You do not need to read the first for this one, each will spoil the other so you can choose which to read first.





	But We Are Alive

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, the story told from FOB's perspective. This is very narration driven like the other one, but if I do make another story, that will be more story.

Everything was crazy. The concert was shut down halfway through and the band was taken backstage by police and then told to get their personal bags and join the lines out front to the buses waiting for everyone. They were all lucky to end up on the same bus, although none of them could sit together and ended up at different parts of the bus. Patrick ended up next to a fan who had been separated from her friends, as they were forced onto different buses, and he spent the whole ride trying to calm her down. 

They arrived at a Walmart with no knowledge of what was going on. There were less buses there then at the venue. They were basically rushed inside and the place looked like a refugee camp, and the band ended up in a group of 25 in one walled off area which had beds, chairs, some entertainment, and a schedule posted on the wall that told the group what happened when. Ruben and Maria, a man and his daughter which were part of the group, said that they had been there to go to a park, as they lived a few towns over, and another woman, Constance, said she and her friends were taken from the house they had been staying in and moved to the place she was now. The small group was made up of mostly the people from the concert, including Stella, the girl who sat with Patrick, and one of her friends (Bonnie), while others were visitors to the city, and two were even residents and had been moved from their own homes. No one knew what was happening.

Pete spent half an hour trying to call everyone he knew, and whenever he got through to someone he knew, he’d spend the next hour on the phone with them. He got through to his mom, then Ashlee, then Brendon, and a few other friends. Ashlee and Bronx had been taken from their home and Ashlee had no clue where they were being taken, his parents were both still home and had heard nothing, Brendon and the rest of Panic! were in a hotel and weren’t aloud to leave, and his friends were in similar situations. He let everyone who didn’t have their phones do the same, as he was one of five who still had their phones.

After a week of being promised that everyone would get the things they left behind back, Joe went up to the guy in charge and demanded an explanation to why everyone hadn’t gotten their stuff back, and he came back fuming and refused to talk about what he said, other than “This asshole doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.” All they had that were theirs were the band’s personal bags, the guitars since none of them thought to put them down, and the few items everyone else had, phones, purses, toys and such. They were given clothes the next day, it was all the clothes from the walmart before it became the camp, and Bonnie realized that a lot of the shirts where from the merch stand, which meant that the people had gone in for things, but not the lost personal items. 

The next day was when anyone who got ill was taken away. Constance was taken after she started getting a fever. They never saw her again, or this couple who had been from the concert. They were replaced by a 16 year old girl named Lisa, who had been driving through with her mom who had gotten sick, and two kids (they were siblings) under 10 whose parents had just disappeared. Lisa said everyone in their group had gotten sick and she and the kids were the only ones who didn’t get sick. They noticed during the cafeteria time that more and more people disappeared, although every other day there’d be at least one new person.

After another boy from their group got taken, a woman took his place, and she had been a new person, Emma, and boy did she have a story to tell. She claimed that the people were lying, that they weren’t there because of an illness that was causing people to get really sick, they were in there because the virus killed, and turned those killed into zombies, and that the police or army or whoever they were had been moving the dead to the stadium they had played, and the people taken, even if they weren’t sick with the virus, were taken there for “medical treatment”. It made sense, but they weren’t going to start a panic over it. 

The next day was when Pete’s phone finally died, and boy was he upset. Andy and Patrick had to keep him from screaming and he eventually just stayed in his bed. None of the group could blame him. He just lost his only connection to his family and friends. His mom and his other few friends stopped returning texts, but Brendon and Ashlee still were, both still being in similar situations to the band.

The group, minus Pete and the three little kids, decided to have a meeting after they were supposed to go to sleep. They all gathered up in the center of their little cell to discuss the problems.

“We aren’t getting answers from these people. We need to get answers!” Ruben hissed as they made sure the people walking around wouldn’t hear them. 

“They won’t give any, we’ve seen this already when we asked when we’d all be able to go home. My mom has to be worried sick and Patrick and his crew had to cancel their tour because of this!” A girl said.

“Outside is chaos. People are being taken from their homes and seperated. I know there are at least 5 camps, and no one is being transferred because of family ties or friendships or anything!” Emma said. “I was separated from my son and my husband because of that.”

“Someone needs to hide somewhere and get information on what’s going on.” One of the men said.

“I’m small, they’ll never notice me.” Lisa said. She was the shortest of everyone other than the kids, and she was pretty skinny, so she could probably fit in any hiding place.

“Sounds like a good plan.” Andy said. “If we want to find out what’s going on it’s best we do it soon, sometime in the next week.”

“Yeah, before they start something else..” Emma said.

“What if she gets caught?” Bonnie asked. 

“I won’t.” Lisa said. 

They decided after that to all go to bed, and the next day, they were stuck in the same routine. Walk out to the dining hall, eat, go back to their areas, unless it was their hygiene day, where they’d be taken to the makeshift showers, or they needed to use the toilets. Lisa took the bathroom as cover to go back to where everyone worked, and she hid somewhere. She didn’t return until it was nearly lights out. She was grateful everyone snuck her some food since she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“They weren’t talking about anything that could give me a good idea of where they are doing, but they kept mentioning something about ‘in two days’ and ‘next week’.” Lisa said between bites of food to the others.

“Something like being sent home I hope…” Andy said.

“I doubt it. Everything was chaos before I was taken here.” Emma said.

“What could it be then?” Bonnie asked.

“Maybe taking us to wherever they’re getting orders from, a larger camp I hope.” Stella said. “And hopefully Allison, George and Clay are there.”

“I hope so too.” Bonnie said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“I hope mama’s there.” Maria said to her father, who just hugged her.

“I just can’t wait to get out of here, it feels like a prison.” Pete said.

“Yeah, these little areas are so small, it makes me claustrophobic.” Joe said.

The lights then dimmed to show it was time to get in their beds, and everyone went to their beds. 

And those two days passed quickly, and when everyone woke up on the day something was to happen, nearly everyone in charge of the place had vanished. When everyone went to the dining hall, they were met by seven of the people in charge, who told everyone to sit at the tables. 

One stood on the tables and announced the army had pulled out, and the seven still there had stayed behind to help the people, because they were going to release the undead they had kept in the stadium out, so that there would be no evidence of what they were doing, whatever it had been. Everyone began to panic, but the woman in charge, Parsons as she called herself, started explaining what they would do.

“We’re going to get everything we can into the leftover bags and suitcases, and we’re going to leave, and head west. There’s a large rest stop between here and the next town, and we’ll figure out what to do from there. It’s our best chance. We’ll split into 7 groups to keep attacks less likely. Each of our remaining military members will be in the group, and we have a head count of 164 people, so we will be in groups of 23, with three groups of 24. I will be splitting everyone into their groups, and then everyone will pack up. We start leaving at sunrise tomorrow.” Parson said.

164 was less than half of how many people there were originally, which meant a lot of people had been taken for illness. Parson had said that two of the other refugee camps were still up and running, and planned to do the same as she was, and she said that the total survivor count was currently 329. 

Joe and Patrick ended up in the same group while Pete and Andy were split up from the rest. After everyone had packed, everyone began to talk about what was going on. Why would the military ditch them?

The next day, Pete’s group was first to leave. The leader had the directions written down and lead them there, and they made it with little issue other than a few zombies along the way. The next group made it, but they lost three people along the way, two bitten and one ran off. Next group wasn’t nearly as lucky, but the next two were fine. The 6th was Andy’s group, and they made it with only one person running off. But the 7th group didn’t come. That was Patrick and Joe’s group. Some groups from the other camps showed up, but the seventh group was missing.

The next day? Nothing. A small group decided to go back to look for them, Pete included. When Andy tried to volunteer, Pete demanded he stay because ‘I’ve already lost my wife, my son, my friends, my family, and everything else in my life, I’m not losing you too.’ Andy didn’t argue and stayed behind.

They got into town and backtracked. They had to be careful as the undead possibly had been released. They found evidence of what happened in an alley, and it was not a good thing.

Twelve people were dead in the alley, all shot in the head. The shooter had been Emma, who had shot herself after killing the rest of the group. There was blood on the ground in a few places, which could mean bodies were moved or they turned and walked off, but an inspection found Patrick and Joe were not among the bodies, but they found their bags and guitars, along with those of the missing group members. All were assumed dead.

Pete was an emotional wreck for the next week or so. Andy wasn’t doing so good either, but he kept working with the rest of the group to keep busy. Eventually they told Andy he should stop trying to work and try to keep his friend from running off, as a few people had caught him trying to leave for a reason he never said.

It was a month in when they began heading back into town for looting, but it was only half a month after that Pete went with to town to search for more food. By then, some people had moved on.

They ran into a group of survivors who were hostile. They were chased, and one of their friends got shot in the back. They dragged him somewhere safe and tried to cover his wound, but the bullet hadn’t exited anywhere and they needed medical help.

“He’s not going to walk back to base..” Bonnie said as she used duct tape to keep the cover on the wound.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do?” Pete asked.

“Find help?” Evan, the other member of the group of four asked.

“Where?!” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t know, me and Pete go see if anyone around here isn’t hostile..” Evan said before they heard the door to the building open. They all went silent and retreated into a room away from the door. They shut the door quietly and Pete listened.

“Did you see where those people went?” One voice said.

“Not sure, they were trying to get away from something.”

“Probably some of that group that lives by the stadium. Those guys are not right in the head.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re in here. I think one of them was injured…”

“Hello?!”

Pete looked at Bonnie, Evan, and Kaiden (the injured person) and looked for their opinion.

“It’s either death or a god send, I say open it.” Evan mouthed.

Pete hesitated, but opened the door. He saw five people, not dressed like the people who shot at them, and one of the people saw him.

“There they are!” She said and she rushed over. “We saw you running, what happened?”

“We got ambushed by a group of people, they shot Kaiden in the back and the bullet didn’t exit, I don’t think he’d make the walk back to base.” Pete said. Bonnie was now standing with a hand on her weapon just in case.

“Our place isn’t too far, maybe ten minutes by car, we can take him to get medical attention, then send you back on your merry way.” The woman said as her group came. “We won’t ask for much, except maybe an alliance.”

Pete looked back at his group and they all nodded in agreement.

“Yes, please!” Kaiden said before Pete said anything. 

“Alright team, let’s save this guy.” The woman said. They then helped get Kaiden to the truck which was parked a little ways away, and they were off. Kaiden, along with Bonnie and two of the members of the group were in the bed of the truck while everyone else was in the truck. As said, the journey only took ten minutes give or take, and they came to a town which had a huge makeshift wall around it. There were a few corpses around the wall, likely to keep the dead from smelling them. 

The gate was opened and the truck was let in, and before he knew it, Kaiden was being taken into a doctor’s office, which now served as a hospital of sorts. 

“I need some names, just in case anyone here knows you, they’d probably want to see you, we have a huge list of people that residents are looking for and anyone who knows you will be contacted.” A woman asked them as they waited for word about Kaiden. All of them gave their names and Kaiden’s name, and the woman thanked them and disappeared out the door.

About twenty minutes later, a woman who turned out to be Evan’s sister showed up, tears already running down her face, and the two hugged each other, crying. After this, the woman introduced herself as Claire and they exchanged hellos. She then began to explain to her brother how she and her husband were both living in a house in the town and that they were on a roadtrip to come see him for his birthday when everything went down. 

Pete did not stay invested however because the door slammed open, and the man who came in, while his hair was shorter and he was definitely skinnier, was Patrick. 

Pete couldn’t remember getting up or saying anything, because the next thing he knew he was hugging Patrick and nearly crying, saying something about how he thought he was dead. It was a little while before they stopped hugging, and Pete didn’t give Patrick any time to say anything.

“Where’s Joe?!” 

“He’s back at the bunkhouse, he’s been sick, it’s why we haven’t tried to come back, after Emma started shooting, Joe got in front of me and two of the others and he got hit in the side, apparently all of us collapsing because of him made her think she got us, and after she shot herself we got inside a building, and we were stuck in there for a week and a half, the others who were shot but not killed didn’t last long, and it was just the five of us, and we weren’t sure Joe was going to survive and he was the only one eating enough because we knew if he started starving he’d die, we were all just eating small things to stop feeling so hungry, then when Markus went out to find more food and maybe you guys after a week and he ran into some scavengers and they helped us. They patched Joe up properly but then he got sick and they were scared it was infection, but he’s just got the flu or something like it, and he’s been recovering, and-” Patrick seemed to realize he was done talking now, with nothing to come after that and, until he remembered. “Andy’s with you guys, right?”

“Yes, he’s back at base though.” 

Patrick seemed so relieved.

“Come on, you need to come see Joe!” Patrick said. 

Pete looked back at the people who had brought them in, and one of them made a hand signal to say ‘just go.’ Pete nodded.

“I’ll be back.” He said and followed Patrick out.

Patrick took him to this large house towards the center of town. A sign was in front of it that said ‘The Bunkhouse.’ The house looked like a normal house, but was pretty big. When he went inside, he found that other than the livingroom and kitchen, every room had been turned into a cabin like room with bunk beds.

“Travelers stay here, or people who don’t know if they want to stay or not.” Patrick said, leading Pete up the stairs. He took him to a room in the back, with a sign on it that said ‘sick room’.

“Best beds are in here, you know, so you’re not miserable while you’re sick.” Patrick chuckled before opening the door. There were 7 beds against the wall, three had people in them. One had a little girl who had a fever but nothing serious, one teenager who had sprained his ankle and was in the furthest bed, and Joe, who was fast asleep in one of the middle beds.

Patrick walked over to him, Pete following. Joe didn’t look like he had lost much weight, but he was a little thinner then the last time he had seen him. It wasn’t surprising however. Pete had probably dropped 7 pounds since homebase started running dangerously low on food. 

Patrick began rocking Joe a little, and Joe opened his eyes

“What?!” He asked, sounding annoyed.

“You won’t believe who I found.” Patrick said, smirking. Joe lazily looked towards Pete, and his expression went from just woke up to utter shock.

“Pete!” He said. Pete closed the distance between him and the bed and gave Joe a hug, which was awkward since Joe was still in the bed. Joe felt a bit hot, but he didn’t seem too sick.

“Andy’s fine, back at the base.” Pete said.

“This is the best fucking news I’ve heard since this started.” Joe said. “Other then ‘you aren’t going to die.’” 

“We should head back, see what Miranda says about you guys, how big is the group now?” Patrick asked.

“Last head count there were 124 of us left. That was before a few others left however” Pete said. “Lot of them were concert goers who drove from other towns and states.”

“I’ll have to check with Miranda, but maybe everyone can come here, the population currently is like 280 or something, and this town had like a thousand people before everything started, then again the military took like a forth the population and more left.” Patrick said. “Come on.”

“We are low on food.” Pete said. 

“I can tell you haven’t been eating very well.” Patrick said. “You’ve definitely lost weight.”

“You have too.”

“Like I said, starving for a week and a half, plus I’m not exactly eating enough to regain that weight.” Patrick mumbled the rest “Or want to…”

Patrick lead him back to the doctor’s office. 

“They finished working on him, he should be good for now.” Evan said after they walked in.

“Good.” Pete said.

“Hey, Bounce, where’s Miranda?” 

“Probably coming here to greet your friends.” Bounce said.

And like magic, she came through the door.

“So sorry for the wait, I’m Miranda, I’m basically the leader of this place.” She shuck Pete’s hand, then Evan’s, then Bonnie’s. 

After a long explanation of Pete’s group’s situation, the group offered to take people in or send care packages, which the three seemed to agree with, and offered to help them go and discuss it with the leader.

The next day, after the small group had eaten well, Pete and Bonnie went with Miranda and some other back to base. Pete and Bonnie explained to the group what Miranda’s group was offering, and after a debate, a majority of people decided to go with. The rest just left.

Pete didn’t tell Andy that Patrick and Joe were there until Andy got off the truck and saw Patrick waiting for them, and Pete had never seen Andy go from hugging someone and crying to chasing him for not telling him. Patrick wished he had a working camera so he could show Joe what happened.

In the next month, they all had jobs and a house. Sometime, about five months in, Joe had been in the radio station when they got a transmission from someone in the west. They had been looking for Pete. They let Joe take the call, since Pete was out scavenging.

They had been from the camp Ashlee had been in, and Ashlee had died half a month earlier. They had all her belongings, and before dying, she said she wanted them to find Pete so he could get everything. Joe confirmed that Pete lived with them and where they were so everything could be delivered. It would take a month or two, but they would be able to get everything to them.

When Pete returned home, Joe told him the news. Pete of course was devastated upon finding out that Ashlee was dead, but the fact they were getting all her belongings to him seemed to make him feel a little better.

Pete was in mourning for a while afterwards. It wasn’t until a new group of survivors appeared in town that he lightened up a little.

Patrick, Pete and Andy were all eating in the club when Joe snuck up behind Pete and Andy and grabbed both their shoulders, which startled them.

“Stop doing that Joe!” Pete said, not bothering to look at him. 

“Doing what?” Joe asked, and Pete saw him walking around the table to sit next to Patrick with two plates of food. Pete looked behind him, and was met by the smug grin of Brendon, and behind him was Spencer and Zack and a few other people. 

Pete was hugging Brendon and Spencer before he could really process his emotions. Patrick and Andy joined in the hug, although they were silent as they did.

“Oh my god I didn’t think you survived!” Pete said, and the rest of the band could swear he hadn’t smiled that much in forever.

 

“Well we did. Would have been impossible without Zack.” Brendon said.

The three let go of them, and Pete noticed something different. Spencer was missing some of his arm.

“What the hell happened to you?” Pete asked.

“I got bitten. Maya and Dan back there showed up and saved me, minus my arm.” Spencer said. Pete looked back at the group behind them, and Brendon could tell he was looking for Jon and Ryan after looking at Maya, then Dan, then Zack.

“Where are Jon and Ryan?” Pete asked. Spencer hesitated, then Brendon answered.

“Dead…” Brendon said. Pete didn’t reply to that, as it hurt to hear they didn’t survive too, but he quickly changed his face. He had spent the past six months thinking they had died, at least Spencer and Brendon were alive.

“Hey, let’s eat before they start announcements…” Patrick said to get them away from the subject. Everyone sat at the table and they started eating together. 

After Brendon and Spencer came, the group was doing a bit better, as they finally had some people from before everything happened back even if it was just Brendon and Spencer. They couldn’t care less, they were friends, friends were all they needed now. Pete went out for scavenging again, and that was when an armored truck came through. Joe and Patrick were called to help unload it, as some of the cargo was Ashlee’s belongings. The two found five bags, each filled with everything Ashlee had brought to the camp she died in. As they started leaving, one of the people from the truck stopped them.

“That isn’t everything.”

Pete came home to find the bags in the livingroom, Andy and Patrick going through them to see what there was. 

“Ashlee’s stuff arrived, we were getting everything set out.” Andy explained. Pete sat down to help. Clothing, random things from their house, family pictures, oh god. Pete found one which showed him and Ashlee, Ashlee holding Bronx. Pete just stared at it as Andy and Patrick finished pulling things out. One box was filled with things that were Bronx’s. 

“I’ll get everything in my room..” Pete muttered as he picked up one of the bags.

“We aren’t done yet.” Patrick said. “Joe!” 

Pete looked around to see if there was another bag when Joe walked in. Pete looked up at him, and nearly burst into tears at what Joe was holding.

“Bronx!” He said before rushing to Joe to take Bronx from him. Bronx was bigger than he remembered, still a baby, but he was bigger. Patrick and Andy stood and Pete just stood there holding his son and crying.

“They said he’ll have to stay in the nursery while you’re gone but he can stay in the house with us.” Joe said once Pete had calmed down. “And trust me, they didn’t mention him when they said ‘Ashlee’s belongings.’”

“And we won’t make you keep him in the nursery.” Andy chuckled, since they said if he couldn’t stay in the house he’d have to stay in the nursery.

“Good, cause he’s not staying in that damn nursery for the first few years of his life.” Pete said, which made everyone chuckle. 

“We already set up his crib in your room and everything we need for him, and he’s 100% your responsibility.” Patrick said. “No coming to one of our rooms asking us to change him.”

Pete laughed again. Maybe life wasn’t as shitty as it could be after all...

**Author's Note:**

> I hope the ending didn't suck and that you liked this!


End file.
